A tribute to and catalogue of the works of Alexander "Hugin" Wieser, founder of ambient black metal band Uruk Hai and many other side-projects, including Hrossharsgrani, Hrefnesholt, Elisabetha, B-Machina, Ceremony of Innocence and more!
Here you will find my thoughts on his work and details on the releases as drawn from items in my personal collection, forming a fuller catalogue of his work than is currently available elsewhere online

Friday, 30 October 2015

ELBENSTAHL - update

Band: URUK HAITitle: ElbenstahlReason for update: A cassette tape version of this best-of collection, released in 2015 by the Swarz Klang Produktionen label [facebook.com/SKP666], cat ref SKP003. The tape itself has a white body, as does the case. Cover artwork features hand-drawn black and white orcs by Ruta Silders, which appeared in colour tint within the pages of the Metallic Media CD pressing.Edition:50 hand-numbered copies

Side 2:07. Western Shores 02. The Orc 03. The Golden Age Of Gondor 04. The Ash Mountains 05. The Orc (Pt. 2) 06. Dark Shadows (Outro)

With the same track listing as graces the Metallic Media CD pressing of this 2015 best-of collection, and a edition of only 50 copies, you might reasonably wonder quite who this release was aimed at? The discerning collector of Hugin material, perhaps? Or the strange, twisted fan who lives in a tumble-down backwoods cabin with only an old battered tape recorder to his/her name? Or perhaps these two descriptions are in fact two sides of the same uber-fan? Who knows...?

All we know is that a tape release often follows a CD release, much as the reverse is also true!

With the track listing being entirely the same here, the notable difference is the artwork used to grace the cover. Rather hidden away in the inside of the Metallic Media CD booklet, the orcs penned by Ruta Silders (partner of Juris Silders, who you will recall from our interview with Beverina & War Bild und TonKunstschmiede in February 2010) take centre stage on the tape artwork, replacing the artistically enhanced picture of Lake Weikerlsee seen on the CD version. Nazgul has something rather special planned featuring those two miscreant orcs, so keep your eyes peeled for that in a future post.

In truth, there's not an awful lot more to add to this particular release without simply repeating the gist of Nazgul's CD based review. It forms a nice, old school addition to the collection but in all honesty if the mood strikes to give "Elbenstahl" a play then its the more convenient compact disc version that's more likely to get grabbed first. Keeps this cassette edition - #1 of the 50 made - in mint condition though, of course.